Pain is Part of It
Jesus isn't the means to an end of a more peaceful and fulfilling life, here or in Heaven. Jesus IS the end in Himself. The Kingdom is here, now! He came to give us abundant life now, but that abundant life doesn't mean all the struggle goes away and the money comes pouring in. In fact, it often means that friendships dry up, money is depleted, and your very world is rocked at every hand. It is precisely in these moments that He speaks to us and calls us closer to who He is. I increasingly see the struggles of this broken world as part of where He really wants to take us. He wants us to be completely dependant on Him, to KNOW him to His fullness. According to Paul in Philippians 3, to do that we must fellowship in His sufferings.
I don't want to suffer. But I do want to know Him. There is a tension in this I don't fully understand, but I know He tells me to bring my burdens to him. He tells me His yoke is easy and His burden is light. I believe Him, but I'm not sure how He does it when the pain doesn't subside, the hard nights keep coming, but I know this: It is IN the throws of those dark nights of the soul, in the midst of crying out for deliverance, in the belly of the beast of sadness, He is near. He comforts the brokenhearted, he heals the sick (here or in glory), and the Holy Spirit empowers these busted and jacked up clay vessels to walk humbly, but surely, through the valley of the shadow of death. The pain is part of the process. It hurts, but He walks through it with us.
One day, when time no longer constrains us, when mortality is shed for the cloak of glory, we will understand. But the beauty is, the Kingdom is here NOW. We don't need to wait for "rapture" to takes us away from all our struggles. He gives us those very struggles that we can begin, in this earthly robe, to understand Who He is, how much He loves us, so we can love each other accordingly.
That's when the world will know He was sent from God, the Father will receive the Glory only He deserves, and we can say, like Paul, that the pain of this present world is but a momentary light affliction because fully knowing Jesus far outweighs the pain we are passing through.
All the while, we cry, Maranatha, Lord, come quickly!
